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Why We Broke Up Daniel Handler Maira Kalman Books

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Why We Broke Up Daniel Handler Maira Kalman Books

When I first found this book, the title and premise hooked me. It’s such a great idea it should be really hard to mess it up. However the execution is so awful, I found myself hating everyone in this book.

Spoilers for the book from here out

First off, these two dated for around two months. TWO. Yet Min feels it was a relationship worth writing a 200 plus essay about. I say 200 page essay because the whole story is under the guise of letters attached to various items form the relationship.

This format does not hold well when you start to think about it. While we the reader need to see conversations between characters, it’s put in the letter as if Min is writing it. Imagine someone sending you a letter with word for word conversations that either they had, or conversations you took part in. How weird would that be? Why would I want to read conversations verbatim in a letter to me?

It’s like when Rachel wrote Ross a very long letter, and gave it to him at four in the morning to read. He didn’t read it, and Ed certainly will not be reading all of this. I wish I hadn’t.

Another massive negative is the way Min speaks, or writes. So many run on sentences that make no sense, so much weird dialogue that jumps around to unrelated events that don’t always get explained. It’s like that person you know who thinks what they say is so deep and meaningful when actually it was a bunch of nonsense.

Finally, at the end of each chapter, Min says that each item in the chest is a reason they broke up. You hear the story behind the item, followed by “and that’s why we broke up”. The real reason ends up being Ed is a cheating, emotionally abusive jerk with several other awful flaws. Min was treated poorly for about two months and still feels the needs to put this much effort for an awful person. And at the end of it, I almost don’t feel bad for Min, making me suffer through this nonsense. Even the pen she’s using to write the letters can’t take her nonsense by the end and starts running out of ink.

I highly recommend you avoid this book at all costs. And I hope and pray this never actually becomes a movie. This kind of awful doesn’t deserve any more attention.


Tags : Amazon.com: Why We Broke Up (9780316127257): Daniel Handler, Maira Kalman: Books,Daniel Handler, Maira Kalman,Why We Broke Up,Little, Brown Books for Young Readers,0316127256,Romance - General,Dating (Social customs),Dating (Social customs);Fiction.,Letters,Letters;Fiction.,Souvenirs (Keepsakes),Souvenirs (Keepsakes);Fiction.,Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12),Dating; Boyfriends and girlfriends; Man-woman relationships; Emotional trauma; Guilt; Relationships,Fiction,Fiction-Romance,JUVENILE,Juvenile Fiction,Juvenile Grades 10-12 Ages 15+,Love & Romance,Romance & relationships stories (Children's Teenage),TEEN'S FICTION ROMANCE,United States,YOUNG ADULT FICTION,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Romance Contemporary,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Romance General,YOUNG ADULT FICTION Social Themes Dating & Sex,Young Adult FictionSocial Themes - Dating & Sex

Why We Broke Up Daniel Handler Maira Kalman Books Reviews

I was forced to read this book for my college class, and I hated every angst-ridden, hackneyed, melodramatic page of it. The premise of the book is that two high school students, an "arty" nerd girl and a handsome jock -- get infatuated with each other until the relationship collapses after a grand total of one month of dating. It's the most cliched YA setup in history. And nothing is done to change up or put a fresh spin on this tired premise. The main character is horrendously pretentious and self-absorbed, and she makes frequent references to old movies to look more "classy" and intelligent than her peers. It doesn't work, by the way, only making her look more pompous than she already is. Her boyfriend is arguably worse, being a stereotypical jerk jock who goes through relationships quickly, uses homophobic slurs, parties and drinks constantly, and neglects his work for school. The rest of the cast are boring, one-dimensional side characters who only serve to move the painfully predictable plot along. Why We Broke Up reeks of immaturity -- this book is framed as the main character's letter to her ex-boyfriend, which means that she wrote a 350-page manifesto on why they broke up, when it is a HIGH SCHOOL RELATIONSHIP that lasted for a paltry ONE MONTH. Is this really the example for coping with breakups that we want to set for the book's audience, who are impressionable teens just beginning to date, like the main character is? While reading it, I just wanted to scream at her to grow up already and get over it. That's not even getting into how the characters frequently sneak off to parties where they engage in underage drinking, go to stores and restaurants and steal things, or check into hotels and mess around without their parents knowing. And no, they never get caught or called out for this behavior, either. Why We Broke Up is not only a literary travesty, but also a terrible example of young love for its target audience. I mourn for the poor, innocent trees who were slaughtered to make paper for this trainwreck of a book.
I kinda enjoyed the book, intriguing in its own right but going through it seems like a one sided story. I would have liked to also get both side, but that might be for another time and another book. Enjoyable read with an up and down roller coaster ride of emotions and all.
I actually went to high school w/Daniel Handler & recognize a lot of the characters in this book, although I was probably too busy getting both knocked up and into Stanford to spend as much time as his characters do "getting coffee," but life is full of difficult choices. It does capture the mood of what seemed very important to most young teenagers back then, and is a delightful romp down the collective memory lane, but not mine.
I love the idea of this book as a handwritten letter, and I really like Min. I don't like the way the book ended..I was hoping Ed would be "different" too. I did read eagerly throughout, hoping for a fairy tale ending I guess, where there isn't really a breakup, and the truth is different than what the reader is led to believe. This may be in part because immediately prior to this I read Me Before You and had a sob-fest, so I was hoping for a happy ending. I am glad that Min was strong at the end, based on what a jerk Ed ended up truly being. And I'm a little mad at Joan for befriending Min and not hinting at what was going on.
When I first found this book, the title and premise hooked me. It’s such a great idea it should be really hard to mess it up. However the execution is so awful, I found myself hating everyone in this book.

Spoilers for the book from here out

First off, these two dated for around two months. TWO. Yet Min feels it was a relationship worth writing a 200 plus essay about. I say 200 page essay because the whole story is under the guise of letters attached to various items form the relationship.

This format does not hold well when you start to think about it. While we the reader need to see conversations between characters, it’s put in the letter as if Min is writing it. Imagine someone sending you a letter with word for word conversations that either they had, or conversations you took part in. How weird would that be? Why would I want to read conversations verbatim in a letter to me?

It’s like when Rachel wrote Ross a very long letter, and gave it to him at four in the morning to read. He didn’t read it, and Ed certainly will not be reading all of this. I wish I hadn’t.

Another massive negative is the way Min speaks, or writes. So many run on sentences that make no sense, so much weird dialogue that jumps around to unrelated events that don’t always get explained. It’s like that person you know who thinks what they say is so deep and meaningful when actually it was a bunch of nonsense.

Finally, at the end of each chapter, Min says that each item in the chest is a reason they broke up. You hear the story behind the item, followed by “and that’s why we broke up”. The real reason ends up being Ed is a cheating, emotionally abusive jerk with several other awful flaws. Min was treated poorly for about two months and still feels the needs to put this much effort for an awful person. And at the end of it, I almost don’t feel bad for Min, making me suffer through this nonsense. Even the pen she’s using to write the letters can’t take her nonsense by the end and starts running out of ink.

I highly recommend you avoid this book at all costs. And I hope and pray this never actually becomes a movie. This kind of awful doesn’t deserve any more attention.